Pezeshkian Says He Coordinated His Ministers with Khamenei; Parliament Granted Confidence to All Ministers

The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in defense of his proposed ministers before the confidence vote for the fourteenth cabinet, urged members of parliament to trust these individuals and repeatedly emphasized that the cabinet list was coordinated with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. Moments after Masoud Pezeshkian's speech, members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly voted confidence for all of his proposed ministers. According to the results of the voting on Wednesday, Aziz Nasirzadeh, the Minister of Defense, received the highest with 281 votes, while Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, the Minister of Health and Treatment, received the lowest confidence vote with 163 votes from the Islamic Consultative Assembly. In his statements on Wednesday, August 31, Masoud Pezeshkian specifically defended Abbas Araghchi, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, and Abbas Salehi, the proposed ministers of Foreign Affairs, Health, and Culture and Islamic Guidance. He said, 'The Minister of Culture (Salehi) who did not come, the Leader ordered him to come, I do not want to say these things, why do you force me to say these things, I called him, he came, we talked, he said no several times and left, I went to the Leader and said, this is the list and these people are on the list and I said he did not come, right there he took the phone and said tell him to come.' The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran added, 'I do not want to go into details, I want to say we have coordinated and come here, you accept us, Ms. Sadegh was said by the Leader to be okay, why do you force me to say things that should not be said.' Mr. Pezeshkian also mentioned the proposed Foreign Minister, saying, 'Dr. Araghchi was the first person that the Leader approved even before we announced the names of the ministers.' He reiterated several times in his speech, 'For the selection of Mr. Araghchi, Khatib, Momeni, Kazemi, General Nasirzadeh, and Simayi Sarraf, we did not do this without coordination; whether with the committees or with the higher-ups and those we needed to coordinate with.' The President of Iran had previously stated clearly that he would coordinate the names of his cabinet members with the Supreme Leader. Various narratives have been published in recent years that appointing ministers for ministries such as Foreign Affairs, Intelligence, Interior, and Culture and Islamic Guidance is not possible without the approval of the Supreme Leader. However, Masoud Pezeshkian stated that after compiling the cabinet list by his advisors, he would go to Ali Khamenei in the final stage and, with coordination and consultation with him, would reach a 'final conclusion' that would allow the cabinet members to be introduced. The final session to review the programs and qualifications of Masoud Pezeshkian's proposed ministers was held in the Islamic Consultative Assembly on Wednesday. In this session, the qualifications of Abbas Ali Abadi, the proposed Minister of Energy, continued, and then representatives for and against spoke about the qualifications of Ahmad Danyamali, the proposed Minister of Sports and Youth. While Masoud Pezeshkian expressed hope that the parliament would grant confidence to all his proposed ministers, the Kayhan newspaper on Wednesday, August 31, wrote that 'not approving unqualified individuals is a service to Pezeshkian.' Kayhan referred to reformist newspapers that called for the approval of all of Pezeshkian's proposed ministers as 'chain publications' and specifically mentioned the names of Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi and Ahmad Midari, the proposed ministers of Health and Labor, labeling them as 'supporters' of the protests of 2009 and 2022. This newspaper added that 'the parliament's refusal to vote for these individuals is the least tribute to the blood of the innocent martyrs of the seditions' and 'consensus does not mean that if someone has turned their back on the Islamic Republic in word or action... they should be approved for ministry candidacy simply by a label and slogan in the name of consensus.' The website Alif also reported on a session of the Independent and Revolutionary Faction of the parliament held on Wednesday morning, stating that members of this faction would vote for all of Masoud Pezeshkian's proposed ministers. After this session, this faction recommended in a statement to other parliament members to 'regardless of any political perspective and in response to the command' of the Supreme Leader, 'support the government and help the government with a decisive vote for the proposed cabinet of the President to fulfill its commitments to the nation.' Meanwhile, Ahmad Azadi Khah, the spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Faction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, stated that in this faction's session, four proposed ministers did not receive votes. He announced the names of these four ministers as follows: Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, proposed Minister of Health, Abdolnaser Hemmati, proposed Minister of Economy, Reza Salehi Amiri, proposed Minister of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, and Ahmad Midari, proposed Minister of Labor. Mostafa Mir Salim, a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Coalition Party and a former parliament member, also predicted that regarding the confidence vote, 'the parliament will give a jolt to the government and at least will not grant confidence to two ministers.' He did not specify the names of these two individuals. 'The shortage of water and electricity' and 'frequent power outages' in the intense heat in Iran were among the main points of the statements made by representatives discussing Abbas Ali Abadi, the proposed Minister of Energy, and his plans. The proposed Minister of Energy, in his speech, referred to the level of 'energy and water imbalance' in Iran, stating that this issue is a governance matter and beyond the heat. He emphasized that the water situation in Iran is not good and 'we are in danger.' In part of his program, he promised that the government would allow Iranian citizens to 'sell their electricity quota in a competitive market.' Hamid Reza Goudarzi, the representative of Aligudarz, opposing the proposed Minister of Energy, called the energy imbalance and the shortage of water and electricity 'the super challenge of the Islamic Republic' and questioned Ali Abadi's experience in the energy sector, adding that his managerial outlook on water and electricity in the current situation is 'superficial.' He stated that the selection of Ali Abadi would be 'the final blow to the hopes of the people in the conditions of drought, reduced water resources, and energy imbalance.' Abbas Ali Abadi was introduced to the parliament as a replacement for Reza Fatemi Amin, the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade, who was impeached in June 2023 by Ebrahim Raisi. Previously, he was the CEO of MAPNA Group (Management of Iranian Power Plant Projects) and the CEO of Iran Khodro. Opponents of Ali Abadi raised many criticisms regarding his management at MAPNA. The Cultural Commission of the parliament approved Ahmad Danyamali's qualifications for the Ministry of Sports and Youth by a majority vote. This is while this commission had previously not approved the qualifications of the proposed Minister of Communications and Cultural Heritage. Danyamali, who is considered a close figure to Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Parliament, has a history of activity in the City Council and Tehran Municipality and the Swimming and Canoeing Federation, and is currently a representative of Bandar Anzali in the parliament. In his speech, he described the field of sports activities as one of the 'arenas of soft warfare' and praised the presence of Iranian women in international sports arenas with Islamic hijab. Danyamali stated that veiled female athletes have 'foiled the wicked plans of the enemy to undermine chastity.' 'Strengthening incentive policies for the marriage of young people and childbearing' was also announced as a priority of the proposed Minister of Sports' program. While Mojtaba Zarei, a parliament member, considered the proposed Minister of Sports to lack expertise in public sports, youth, and soft technologies, Hamid Reza Goudarzi, a supporter of him, stated that Danyamali has years of experience and deep understanding of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. Hamid Reza Azizi, a representative from Farsan in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province and an opponent of the proposed Minister of Sports and Youth, also criticized the large number of Iranian athletes seeking asylum and migrating to other countries and called for an investigation into the reasons for this issue. After Masoud Pezeshkian's speech, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in defense of his proposed ministers of the fourteenth cabinet, the parliament will enter the voting process to grant confidence to them.